Resources from the Telephone Town Hall on Resources for Individuals with Disabilities

Recently I held a telephone town hall on resources for individuals with disabilities. Thank you to all who joined and submitted questions. We had representatives from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Disability Rights California, Autism Speaks, and Disability Voices United. For those who could not join us, I have included some resources mentioned on the call below. As always, please reach out to my office by calling 562-529-3250 if you have any follow up questions or would like to share issues you have encountered during COVID-19.

Information about Regional Centers:

Top Questions the State Council on Developmental Disabilities Received from Parents and Family Advocates (during COVID-19)

ARCA has a webpage devoted to COVID-19 resources. Every regional center is providing updates and information to their community. They centralize that info on specific pages or parts of their websites. The full list, including direct links to those pages, is available at:

Green Mountain Self-Advocates is a group of individuals with developmental disabilities, based in Vermont. They have created a very helpful information packet, written by and for people with developmental disabilities, all about COVID-19. The packets are in both English and Spanish, available at:

Education:

What are my special education rights during the COVID-19 School Closures? (ENGLISH)

If your child has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or a 504 plan, they are still entitled to a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

Due to health guidelines, your child’s IEP or 504 plan may not be implemented the way it was when school was in session. Schools may provide services through distance learning, such as video conferencing, with appropriate accommodations and modifications.

School districts do not have to call IEP meetings to start distance learning services. But parents still can request IEP meetings to be held within 30 days (not including schools breaks of 5+ days).

Keep a journal of the special education or 504 plan services your child has missed as a result of the school closure and request an IEP or 504 plan meeting to discuss compensatory services once school re-opens.

If your child receives early intervention services, school districts must still develop and implement an IEP by your child’s third birthday.

In "exceptional situations," school districts may provide services in-person in order to maintain students’ mental/physical health and safety during periods of distance learning.

If your child receives a distance learning plan, make sure it states that the distance learning services are temporary and that the regular IEP or 504 plan will go back in effect once schools re-open.

Communication with communities regarding regional center operations, available resources, and the changing landscape of service delivery;

Tracking and accounting for funds expended as a result of the response to COVID-19.

Additionally, The federal funding from the CARES ACT has extended and provides additional funding for the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act program to continue to help low-income, older adults and people with disabilities apply for Medicare prescription drug subsidies and Medicare Savings Programs (through which Medicaid covers some or all Medicare premiums and other cost sharing payments) through November 30, 2020.

Contacts for the organizations that participated in the tele-town hall:

FAQ:

Do you know of food banks that offer foods like lactose-free milk, gluten-free, dairy-free products that our children can consume that have special food restrictions due to their condition?

We have shared this information with cities in our district in order to inform them of these needs at food banks. We recommend contacting the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank (at 2-1-1) directly for more information about what food is available.

Additionally, the Los Angeles Salvation Army center offers assistance with food and other emergency assistance and we have three locations nearby in Bell, Long Beach, and Bellflower.

The United Way can connect individuals with many programs and resources in their area regarding Food assistance, Healthcare, Housing, Utilities and other bills, and other community resources. They can visit www.211.org or call 2-1-1 to learn more.

For our students with 504s or IEPs in place, how are they going to continue to receive their services? Is there going to be compensatory time when they return to school?

It is not yet known, as this will be decided in a case by case basis. Experts recommend that individuals record the services that your student is missing for the duration of the pandemic in a journal in order to document the need.

Are there resources for food/medicine/housing and other necessities for individuals who are undocumented that you know of?

CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles) has a free hotline you can call if you think you have the Coronavirus at 888-624-4752. In California, immigrants have access to emergency care regardless of immigration status. More information here.

Immigrants Rising created a document on tangible support for undocumented communities during the pandemic. There are resources on addressing fear and coping with stress, health access and guidance, connecting to free/low-cost resources, legal rights as employees, and more; that can be viewed here. You can also contact them by emailing nancy@immigrantsrising.org

We know that many families are dealing with financial hardship at the moment due to the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus). Because of this, Autism Speaks is offering Autism Speaks Cares Grantsto people with autism and their families/caregivers who are in need of support. This grant will provide $250 to help with groceries, medication, therapy, or utilities. To apply, they can contact our Autism Response Team (ART) by calling/emailing (info down below)